The German Handball Federation (Deutscher Handballbund, DHB), the governing body for handball in Germany, partnered with us at adesso to deliver a groundbreaking digital transformation. This ambitious relaunch created a fresh, dynamic, and user-friendly website tailored to the needs of fans, players, and stakeholders. The project prioritized flexibility, scalability, and performance while introducing innovative features such as detailed player profiles and competition displays. Completed on schedule in December 2024, just in time for the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship, the platform positions the DHB as a leader in digital sports communication.
About the project
Goals:
- Design a visually appealing, responsive website that provides a seamless experience across devices.
- Simplify navigation and improve usability to better serve fans, members, and stakeholders.
- Implement an advanced search functionality with faceted filters for enhanced usability.
- Develop innovative features, such as player profiles, competition schedules, and event management.
- Introduce cross-selling opportunities for merchandise and sponsorship management tools.
Requirements:
- Extensive use of Drupal’s contributed modules to optimize development efficiency and quality.
- GDPR compliance with a user-friendly cookie consent solution.
- Advanced event calendar with extensive filtering options and automated data imports.
- Integration of player and match statistics, detailed competition schedules, and ticketing links.
- Tools for news management, cross-referencing content, and providing downloads.
Outcome:
We at adesso successfully created a platform that redefines how the DHB engages with its audiences. The new website boasts a sleek, professional design, advanced features like player performance stats and match reports, and a robust search engine powered by Solr. Content editors enjoy unparalleled flexibility with Paragraphs, enabling them to create dynamic, visually appealing pages efficiently. The platform is primed for future growth, including preparations for the World Men's Handball Championship in 2027.
Key Features and Technologies
Content Management with Paragraphs
The website leverages the Paragraphs module to empower editors with diverse content types, such as:
- Images and image-text combinations.
- Social media embeds.
- SEO-text fields and tables.
- Video embeds (YouTube).
- Downloadable resources and structured lists.
This modular approach ensures editors can create engaging, dynamic pages with ease.
Advanced Search with Solr
The Solr-based search functionality indexes text, media, and files. Faceted filtering allows users to refine searches by categories, providing precise and user-friendly results.
Responsive Design
Built with Bootstrap 5, the site offers a seamless experience across all devices, ensuring accessibility for users on mobile, tablet, and desktop.
Custom Features
- Event Calendar: A custom solution powered by Views and Migration API, providing filtering and comprehensive event overviews.
- Player and Match Data Integration: Custom modules fetch player stats, match reports, and competition schedules via external APIs.
- Sponsorship Management: Integrated tools highlight sponsors prominently on relevant pages.
- Cross-Selling Opportunities: Seamless links to the merchandise store boost engagement and sales.
SEO and Compliance
- SEO optimization through the Simple Sitemap module.
- GDPR compliance ensured with a transparent Consent Manager.
Development and Deployment
The development process followed a three-stage deployment strategy (local > staging > production) using DDEV and Docker. Quality assurance was managed through GitLab, including automated pipelines to streamline deployments.
Why Drupal was chosen
At adesso, we identified Drupal as the ideal CMS for this high-profile project. Its modular architecture, vast library of contributed modules, and robust community support offered the flexibility needed to meet the DHB’s diverse requirements. Drupal’s proven ability to handle complex workflows, advanced search features, and responsive design made it the perfect choice to deliver a cutting-edge, scalable platform.
Technical Specifications
Drupal version:
Key modules/theme/distribution used:
